The Department of Homeland Security says it will remove age limits for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers amid a massive hiring push to power mass deportations.
As AP reports, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox & Friends that applicants as young as 18 could be hired on to join ICE under a new policy. That’s down from the agency’s current policy that requires personnel to be at least 21 and no older than 40.
A DHS press release said the change was happening so "even more patriots will qualify to join ICE."
In Arizona and elsewhere, armed and often masked ICE agents have stormed into places like courthouses, schools and job sites to arrest immigrants who are undocumented and — in some cases — those with legal status in the U.S.
The agency has also offered incentives like loan forgiveness programs to encourage applicants.
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Activists have spent the last 70 days camped around and inside a cottonwood tree right along the border in the tiny town of Lochiel. The tree was the last of an old grove estimated to be up to 250 years old. -
The relationship between Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller and the Board of Supervisors has been rocky since a legal fight started over Miller unilaterally signing up to work with ICE. -
The National Park Service has denied an activist group’s request to place water stations along the Arizona-Mexico border — marking the first time their permit has been denied in more than two decades. -
The Utah-based Management & Training Corporation, or MTC, operates several prisons and ICE facilities around the U.S. This Marana site is an old state prison that was run by MTC before Arizona severed that contract and shut it down in 2023. -
The association says immigrant workers account for more than 25% of the construction workforce. And the impact of immigration enforcement and workplace raids is felt across the board — with some markets reporting even workers with legal status not showing up due to ICE fears.
